The present invention pertains to an absorbent article, such as a diaper, feminine care pad, incontinence garment, training pants and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to an absorbent article with an improved design which allows portions of the article to become detached in various predetermined locations.
The main function of absorbent articles such as diapers, adult incontinence garments, feminine care pads and training pants is to absorb and contain body exudates. Such articles are thus placed against or in proximity to the body of the wearer to absorb and contain the various exudates discharged from the body. Contemporary disposable absorbent articles are permanently unitary and are intended to be discarded after a single use. Articles such as disposable diapers are generally comprised of a liquid permeable topsheet, a liquid impermeable backsheet, an absorbent core, elasticized leg flaps, and tape tabs.
The most common mode of failure for such products is the negative environmental repercussions which predominantly result after disposing of the used article. Presently, used absorbent articles are rolled and secured with the article""s adhesive fastening means, thus permanently enclosing the article and its contents within the confines of the liquid impermeable backsheet. The article is then discarded, solid-waste and all, and is finally delivered to a landfill where it may remain for centuries until it degrades. These two factors are the primary contributors to the environmental stigma associated with absorbent articles, in particular disposable diapers. Contemporary disposable diapers do not provide a sanitary means for the disposal of fecal material, such as by flushing the material down the toilet where it can be treated by the sewage system. Manufacturers of these articles have not provided a suitable solution to this environmental problem, but have merely printed instructions on the packaging asking the consumer to shake the diaper over the toilet to remove the solid waste material before discarding. The other environmental hazard associated with disposable diapers, is the impact they have had on landfills. Although some contemporary disposable diapers are made with biodegradable material, the greatest problem stems from the liquid impermeable material of the backsheet which is non-biodegradable and, consequently, inhibits the breakdown of the diaper when thrown away. The problem is primarily due to the above-mentioned process of wrapping the used diaper with the backsheet, prior to discarding. This process completely and permanently traps the biodegradable material and the waste within the non-biodegradable material prior to sending the used article to the landfill. The problem is amplified since each child wears about 6000 disposable diapers before being toilet-trained, which amounts to approximately 16 billion diapers being discarded annually in the U.S. These figures explain why this single product, used by a steadily increasing group of the population, accounts for approximately 2% of landfill capacity.
An alternative, such as the disposable diaper with flushable components as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,457 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,342 issued to Roessler et al. on Dec. 19, 1995 and Apr. 11, 1995 respectively, includes a diaper with a flushable insert pad. The entire insert pad is dropped into the toilet, where it must remain for at least two minutes prior to flushing. This method suffers from the disadvantages of imposing this waiting period on the consumer before flushing, potentially causing the toilet to clog due to the compact structure of the insert pad and from flushing the insert pad as a whole into the toilet, and shifting of the insert pad, due to the absence of a mechanism to secure the insert pad to the absorbent article. The only mechanism used to maintain the insert pad in position within the diaper is the cover that is placed over the insert pad; however, the cover does not keep the insert pad from moving inside the diaper. Therefore, once the insert pad has been wetted, the insert pad is free to move inside the diaper, which may clump to the center of the diaper. The clumping of the absorbent material to the center of the diaper, may compromise the absorbent capacity of the article by the non-uniform dispersement of the absorbent material and may also result in discomfort to the wearer from the clumping of the absorbent material in the center of the diaper. As mentioned above, the other disadvantage of the design is the problem that results from the construction of the insert pad being designed to be flushed as a whole in that the flushable design is limited to smaller size diapers, due to the fact that larger diapers with larger insert pads would clog the toilet when flushed. However, the above disadvantages have not been confirmed, since the articles of the prior-art are not available on the market.
As a result of the environmental drawbacks associated with disposable diapers, reusable absorbent articles have become a popular alternative for consumers. New customized designs, resembling disposable diapers, have been incorporated into the design of reusable retainers such as the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,476 issued to Fredrica Coates on Apr. 25, 1995. These reusable retainers are used in conjunction with cloth diapers, but are also used with disposable absorbent insert pads. This alternative suffers from a number of disadvantages. For instance, reusable absorbent articles leak more, do not keep the wearers as dry as disposable diapers, are more time consuming to use and wash, require much more maintenance, are less sanitary, are less reliable, and damage the ecology by creating waste water.
Conventional absorbent articles, such as those described above, have not been completely satisfactory in providing a suitable solution to the ecological problem. Therefore, a simple, effective and reliable process for disposing of these articles is needed which also promotes the preservation of the environment. Nevertheless, the only absorbent articles available suffer from a number of disadvantages.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having an improved design, which temporarily joins various significant components of the article in an unconventional manner.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved design for absorbent articles which allows for the separation of these significant components of the article in order to discard them separately in a more sanitary and environmentally friendly manner.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having a biodegradable detachable liner which can be flushed down the sewage system separately, and thus removing most of the solid waste material contained on the absorbent article, prior to discarding it.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide an improved design for an absorbent article having a pulling means to grip the detachable liner to tear it away from the topsheet of the article.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having an absorbent pouch, which encloses all the absorbent contents of the article located between the topsheet and backsheet.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved design for an absorbent article, which allows for the detachment of the absorbent pouch binding in order to expose and release its absorbent contents.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having a means of releasably attaching the absorbent pouch to the article, which means can also be utilized to detach the pouch prior to discarding.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an improved design for an absorbent article which allows for the extraction of the absorbent pouch through the opening created after removing the detachable liner, and which consequently allows for the pouch to be discarded separately from the article.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having a means of gripping the absorbent pouch to remove it from the article, and also having a means which allows for the handling and securing of the pouch with minimal finger contact with the human wastes, prior to discarding.
Furthermore, it is also an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having an absorbent pouch which can be used alone, independent of other components of the article. It is an object of the present invention to provide a process of making the absorbent article.
Finally, it is an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article which allows the user the convenient option of disposing the detachable components at a landfill site or in a toilet, thereby accommodating the preference of the individual and the capability of the community.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein the preferred embodiment of the invention is shown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, there is provided an improvement for a disposable absorbent article, such as a diaper, adult incontinence garment, feminine care pad, and training pants, having various detachable components. These components are temporarily joined but have a means of detaching these components from the article after use and disposing of them separately. The present invention is an improvement that can be implemented and utilized to supplement contemporary disposable absorbent articles. Present commercially available disposable diapers comprise a liquid permeable topsheet, an absorbent core, a liquid impermeable backsheet, tape tabs, leg elastic members and waist elastic members. The improvement of the present invention comprises elements described below, which make up the preferred embodiment. A liquid permeable topsheet and a liquid impermeable backsheet are bound together in facing relation, thus creating a hollow containment pocket, which encases an inner liquid permeable absorbent pouch. The absorbent pouch has a releasable binding along the entire periphery of the absorbent pouch to encase the absorbent contents of the absorbent article located within the hollow containment pocket. However, the releasable binding is used to encase all the absorbent contents of the article within the absorbent pouch, and not for holding the absorbent pouch to the absorbent article, nor within the hollow containment pocket. An alteration is applied to the topsheet by adding a detaching means to its surface, thus providing a means for removing a substantial portion of the topsheet, which is referred to as a detachable liner. The detachable liner can be extracted from the surface of the topsheet by taking hold of pulling tabs, located on the top and bottom peaks of the detachable liner, and continuing to pull along the periphery of the detaching means until the entire detachable liner has been completely removed from the topsheet; Once the detachable liner has been extracted from the absorbent article, it can be flushed down the toilet, along with any accompanying body exudates contained on the liner. An opening is thus created on the outer surface of the topsheet, after the detachable liner has been completely removed, to release the absorbent pouch from the interior of the absorbent article. A gripping tab is used to pull the absorbent pouch and extract it through the opening to release the pouch from the confines of the absorbent article. The absorbent pouch is releasably secured to the backsheet of the absorbent article by a securement strip and a fastening means to prevent the pouch from shifting out of position. As used in this Application, the term fastening means refers to an element which connects the pouch to the framework of the article itself, and is distinct from the detachable liner, which covers the pouch but does not positively attach the pouch to the frame work of the article. The fastening means prevents the pouch from moving with respect to the framework of the article; the detachable liner covering the pouch does not provide that function, and in other art which lacks a fastening means, the pouch can move under the detachable liner and thus change position with respect to the framework of the article. The absorbent pouch is secured to the backsheet until it is extracted out of the opening to be discarded separately after use. Prior to being discarded, the absorbent pouch is rolled into its final position and permanently secured by fastening the gripping tab to the fastening means.. After the absorbent pouch has been prepared for disposal, it can be discarded separately from the remnants of the absorbent article. The absorbent pouch, which contains the majority of the article""s absorbent material, has a higher potential for biodegrading now because it is no longer attached to the backsheet, which inhibits decomposition of the article after being thrown away. A preferred alternative for the disposal of the absorbent pouch is to flush the absorbent contents down a toilet. This is performed by taking hold of peeling tabs located on the top edge of absorbent pouch and pulling until the releasable binding breaks and separates the outer protective layers of the absorbent pouch to expose the flushable absorbent contents of the absorbent pouch and allow them to fall by gravity into the toilet. Depending on the size of the article and the flushing capacity of the toilet, the user may also flush the contents of the absorbent pouch in segments to reduce the risk of clogging the toilet. The releasable binding of the absorbent pouch allows for the pouch to be opened and for the disposal of the absorbent contents to be regulated by the, user, and therefore, larger size articles can be flushed in segments without clogging the toilet. The absorbent pouch, as a whole, is not intended to be flushed, rather it is designed to become detached and only the absorbent contents of the pouch are flushable. Therefore, the applications of the detachable design of the absorbent article are more diverse, and therefore, adapted to be used with larger size articles and with a wider spectrum of disposable hygienic articles. In an alternative embodiment of the absorbent pouch, the pouch is used alone, independent of the hollow containment pocket and the detachable liner, and is fastened to reusable undergarments, diaper covers, training pants, or other similar reusable garments.
The detachable structure of the absorbent article provides various alternatives to individually discard each component. The improved design is potentially advantageous to the preservation of the ecology by providing a variety of unconventional and more suitable methods of discarding disposable absorbent articles. Variations in the operation and utilization of the invention are applicable, and the above mentioned embodiments are only examples and not limitations. As will be realized, the invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.